joining me now to discuss the congressional leaders meeting is chris van hollen, ranking democratic, ranking members of the house budget committee. thanks for waiting while we talked about all of this that is happening in washington. >> a lot going on, indeed. >> the real story. of course that is going to face every american is whether our taxes go up, whether huge spending cuts take place and whether this will precipitate potentially another recession. i do have the feeling from what -- do you have the feeling from what you've heard from the speaker there is a solution and he will be able to garner enough votes on the republican side of the caucus and you on the democrat to try to avert this? the house is where the action is. >> they had a constructive meeting at the white house. the president and the top four congressional leaders, republicans and democrats. there was a spirit of cooperation today. the challenge is ahead because while everyone is committed to working to avoid going over the fiscal cliff for the reasons you just mentioned, obviously the devil is in the details. and